Then-Gov. Ernie Fletcher, right, applauds in 2006 as a sign honoring former Gov. Paul Patton, left, is unveiled in Pikeville. Fletcher named U.S. 119 the Paul E. Patton Highway.

Written by

Al Cross, The Courier-Journal

If you vacationed in Kentucky this summer - and you should have, to keep money in our beautiful state - you probably noticed one of those verbose, hard-to-read route signs for Kentucky's parkways, the former toll roads that are quasi-interstates, and some other major highways.

And you may have wondered just who were, or are, all these people? The ones whose names have been tacked onto, or in some cases put in place of, original names that were quintessentially Kentucky, such as Green River and Daniel Boone?

As regular readers of this column likely know, the more recent names are those of former ...